Error : tag requires a 'drawable' a

Question

I created a state-list selector file item_bg_selector.xml in the drawable folder like this :

<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
  <item android:state_selected="true" 
      android:drawable="@drawable/item_background_selected" />
  <item android:state_focused="true" 
      android:drawable="@drawable/item_background_selected" />
  <item android:state_pressed="true" 
      android:drawable="@drawable/item_background_selected" />
  <item android:drawable="@android:color/transparent"/>
</selector>

Then i define a style element

<style name="Item">
    <item name="android:layout_width">wrap_content</item>
    <item name="android:layout_height">wrap_content</item>
    <item name="android:background">@drawable/item_bg_selector</item>
</style>

Then I try to create an ImageButton like this :

    <ImageButton style="@style/Item"
        android:id="@id/btn_home"
    android:src="@drawable/home_button" />

Eclipse keeps giving me the following error in the Event Details window :

Failed to parse file /path/to/projectdir/res/drawable/item_bg_selector.xml

The exception trace is given below :

org.xmlpull.v1.XmlPullParserException: Binary XML file line #16: <item> tag requires a 'drawable' attribute or child tag defining a drawable
    at android.graphics.drawable.StateListDrawable.inflate(StateListDrawable.java:167)
    at android.graphics.drawable.Drawable.createFromXmlInner(Drawable.java:787)
    at android.graphics.drawable.Drawable.createFromXml(Drawable.java:728)
    at com.android.layoutlib.bridge.impl.ResourceHelper.getDrawable(ResourceHelper.java:208)
    at com.android.layoutlib.bridge.android.BridgeTypedArray.getDrawable(BridgeTypedArray.java:731)
    at android.view.View.<init>(View.java:1885)
    at android.widget.ImageView.<init>(ImageView.java:112)
    at android.widget.ImageButton.<init>(ImageButton.java:85)
    at android.widget.ImageButton.<init>(ImageButton.java:81)
    at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(NativeConstructorAccessorImpl.java:39)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.newInstance(DelegatingConstructorAccessorImpl.java:27)
    at java.lang.reflect.Constructor.newInstance(Constructor.java:513)
    at android.view.LayoutInflater.createView(LayoutInflater.java:500)
    at com.android.layoutlib.bridge.android.BridgeInflater.onCreateView(BridgeInflater.java:84)
    at android.view.LayoutInflater.createViewFromTag(LayoutInflater.java:563)
    at com.android.layoutlib.bridge.android.BridgeInflater.createViewFromTag(BridgeInflater.java:129)
    at android.view.LayoutInflater.rInflate(LayoutInflater.java:618)
    at android.view.LayoutInflater.rInflate(LayoutInflater.java:621)
    at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:407)
    at android.view.LayoutInflater.inflate(LayoutInflater.java:296)
    at com.android.layoutlib.bridge.impl.RenderSessionImpl.inflate(RenderSessionImpl.java:279)
    at com.android.layoutlib.bridge.Bridge.createSession(Bridge.java:318)
    at com.android.ide.common.rendering.LayoutLibrary.createSession(LayoutLibrary.java:325)
    at com.android.ide.eclipse.adt.internal.editors.layout.gle2.RenderService.createRenderSession(RenderService.java:372)
    at com.android.ide.eclipse.adt.internal.editors.layout.gle2.GraphicalEditorPart.renderWithBridge(GraphicalEditorPart.java:1317)
    at com.android.ide.eclipse.adt.internal.editors.layout.gle2.GraphicalEditorPart.recomputeLayout(GraphicalEditorPart.java:1071)
    at com.android.ide.eclipse.adt.internal.editors.layout.gle2.GraphicalEditorPart.activated(GraphicalEditorPart.java:897)
    at com.android.ide.eclipse.adt.internal.editors.layout.LayoutEditor.pageChange(LayoutEditor.java:384)
    at org.eclipse.ui.part.MultiPageEditorPart$2.widgetSelected(MultiPageEditorPart.java:290)
    at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.TypedListener.handleEvent(TypedListener.java:234)
    at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.EventTable.sendEvent(EventTable.java:84)
    at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Display.sendEvent(Display.java:3783)
    at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Widget.sendEvent(Widget.java:1375)
    at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Widget.sendEvent(Widget.java:1398)
    at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Widget.sendEvent(Widget.java:1383)
    at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Widget.notifyListeners(Widget.java:1195)
    at org.eclipse.swt.custom.CTabFolder.setSelection(CTabFolder.java:2743)
    at org.eclipse.swt.custom.CTabFolder.onMouse(CTabFolder.java:1429)
    at org.eclipse.swt.custom.CTabFolder$1.handleEvent(CTabFolder.java:257)
    at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.EventTable.sendEvent(EventTable.java:84)
    at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Display.sendEvent(Display.java:3783)
    at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Widget.sendEvent(Widget.java:1375)
    at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Widget.sendEvent(Widget.java:1398)
    at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Widget.sendEvent(Widget.java:1383)
    at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Widget.notifyListeners(Widget.java:1195)
    at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Display.runDeferredEvents(Display.java:3629)
    at org.eclipse.swt.widgets.Display.readAndDispatch(Display.java:3284)
    at org.eclipse.ui.internal.Workbench.runEventLoop(Workbench.java:2640)
    at org.eclipse.ui.internal.Workbench.runUI(Workbench.java:2604)
    at org.eclipse.ui.internal.Workbench.access$4(Workbench.java:2438)
    at org.eclipse.ui.internal.Workbench$7.run(Workbench.java:671)
    at org.eclipse.core.databinding.observable.Realm.runWithDefault(Realm.java:332)
    at org.eclipse.ui.internal.Workbench.createAndRunWorkbench(Workbench.java:664)
    at org.eclipse.ui.PlatformUI.createAndRunWorkbench(PlatformUI.java:149)
    at org.eclipse.ui.internal.ide.application.IDEApplication.start(IDEApplication.java:115)
    at org.eclipse.equinox.internal.app.EclipseAppHandle.run(EclipseAppHandle.java:196)
    at org.eclipse.core.runtime.internal.adaptor.EclipseAppLauncher.runApplication(EclipseAppLauncher.java:110)
    at org.eclipse.core.runtime.internal.adaptor.EclipseAppLauncher.start(EclipseAppLauncher.java:79)
    at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:369)
    at org.eclipse.core.runtime.adaptor.EclipseStarter.run(EclipseStarter.java:179)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
    at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
    at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
    at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
    at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.invokeFramework(Main.java:620)
    at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.basicRun(Main.java:575)
    at org.eclipse.equinox.launcher.Main.run(Main.java:1408)

Now, The question is where is the error? the drawables exist in the folder. tag has a drawable attribute. I have cross checked this close to 15 times and still I have not been able to find the problem. I believe it is a very simple problem(if any). Any work around to get over with this is also appreciated.

Addition : Also, line 16 in item_bg_selector.xml corresponds to the third line from the top in the file I have posted. that is

<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
  <item android:state_selected="true" 
line16 ----> android:drawable="@drawable/item_background_selected" />

Answer 1

Finally, I got to know that its a problem with just ADT and it actually runs fine on the device. This corresponds to issue 21046.

Answer 2

The same error occurs on the activity_main.xml file if there is an extra LinearLayout in the Activity. Removing this solves the issue.

Cleaning and other things do not help.

Answer 3

The error has to do with the format of your xml, you are setting something like

android:background="@drawable/item_bg_selector"

What the error is telling you is that it should be like this

android:drawable="@drawable/item_bg_selector"

Answer 4

I've experienced the same Exception for a different problem.

I was trying to use a color selector for the View's android:background:

<RadioButton
    android:layout_width="wrap_content"
    android:layout_height="wrap_content"
    android:background="@color/tab_background_selector" />

<!-- /res/color/tab_background_selector.xml -->
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item android:color="@color/white" android:state_checked="true" />
    <item android:color="@color/light_blue" />
</selector>

Moving the selector to the drawable folder and changing android:color to android:drawable solved the problem.

Also, the background definition in the Layout needs to be changed to android:background="@drawable/tab_background_selector"

Here is the final selector:

<!-- /res/drawable/tab_background_selector.xml -->
<selector xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <item android:drawable="@color/white" android:state_checked="true" />
    <item android:drawable="@color/light_blue" />
</selector>

Answer 5

I got it to work by copying the image right into the file system (Finder on Mac) rather than through Android Studio.

Answer 6

I had the problem because when renaming the selector for pre-lollipop devices, I forgot to rename the ripple with th e same name also in the drawable-v21 folder.